1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a method for operator control of a motor vehicle component by gestures, which involves a gesture executed by an input unit, particularly a hand or portions of a hand of an operator, in a three-dimensional operator control space that is part of an interior of a motor vehicle being detected and an operator control function linked to the identified gesture being executed. In addition, the invention relates to an operator control unit of a motor vehicle for operator control of a motor vehicle component by gestures.
2. Related Art
Motor vehicle components can be operated in different ways. A notion in widespread use is operator control by mechanical or electromechanical operator control elements such as switches, rotary controls or rotary/push controls. Operator control of motor vehicle components by voice is also already in use. In addition, motor vehicles also involve the use of touch screens and touch pads, which can be used to operate motor vehicle components conveniently. In the case of these, operator control can then also be effected by handwritten input of letters or characters, for example.
Furthermore, operator control of motor vehicle components by gestures is fundamentally known. One such method is described in WO 2009/155464 A1, for example. The gestures, which may be finger or hand gestures, for example, are detected and converted into an operator control function. The gestures can be executed in multiple stages, for example in order to select a particular entry within a list and then to activate a particular function in respect of this list entry. For basic functions, such as the adjustment of a volume, single gestures are provided, so that the choice of operator control steps is minimal in this case. The system described therein also has provision for audible feedback that relates to the gesture itself. By way of example, feedback by synthesized voice is thus provided for an identified gesture.
Normally, the gesture needs to be executed in a predefined three-dimensional operator control space. This operator control space is part of the motor vehicle interior, but the boundaries of the operator control space cannot be identified by an operator, particularly the driver of the motor vehicle. Therefore, the operator remains uncertain as to whether he is actually in the provided three-dimensional operator control space when executing the gesture.